Waterline break near treatment plant baffles Niles officials

By Jordan Cohen | February 16, 2017 at 12:00a.m.

NILES

Geological technicians and structural engineers are probing the cause and possible damage from a water main break at the waste treatment plant construction site that is believed responsible for a 6-inch drop in the ground.

“No buildings were on top of it,” said Andy Catanzarite, water and sewer superintendent. “So far there has been no problem with any of the buildings, but we’re still assessing the damage.”

The facility, which cost more than $30 million, has been under construction since November 2015.

The break is believed to have occurred near Jan. 29, possibly 30 feet below the surface, said James DePasquale, safety-service director.

“It took a couple of days to locate [it],” DePasquale told council Wednesday. “Nobody was certain what it was.”

With the city in fiscal emergency for more than two years, Steve Mientkiewicz, D-2nd, said a $2 million contingency fund set aside for the project should pay for repairs and not the city’s water funds.

“I want that in writing,” he told DePasquale. The director promised the councilman he would get it.

Catanzarite said the geology technicians are analyzing whether the 6-inch drop is the result of undermining – an erosion of the base. DePasquale told council one possible cause may be related to work on a pipe by a contractor, but the director did not point the finger at the contractor.

“We’re still trying to determine what happened,” DePasquale said.

Catanzarite said the only damage thus far has been to a concrete pad for a transformer, which forced the city to install a temporary generator last weekend.

“We had to shut down the transformer to avoid a possible explosion,” Catanzarite said.

The superintendent said construction has not been interrupted at the site since the break was discovered. Catanzarite does not expect a final report from the engineers and geological technicians until sometime next week.

Meanwhile, DePasquale had some good news for council about reducing overtime in every department – a problem Niles’ state-appointed fiscal supervisors have told the financially troubled city to control.

“We’ve spent $4,000 less on overtime in January of this year than we spent in January of 2016,” he reported. “It’s an improvement.”